Book excerpt: Excerpt from An Oration Pronounced Before the Literary Societies of Amherst College, August 23, 1836 Secondly, it is by the direct intercommunication of ideas through the medium of sensible signs of thought, especially in speech or in writing. Frequently this is accompanied with more Or less of authoritativeness, as in the instruction imparted by a parent to his children, or of a master to his pupil; in the religious doctrines inculcated from the desk or through the press by men invested with sacred functions; ln the compositions of popular and esteemed authors; in the newspaper press, that great, engine of popular impression and every day knowledge. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.